Episode 79 (13th September 1961)
Plot The day of Ida's funeral arrives. Christine delivers a wreath to No.3 where Valerie is helping out while Frank and Ken are out arranging the death certificate and meeting David off a train. They come back with the news that David hasn't arrived. Frank is preoccupied with thinking about his son. David sends a wreath. Broken-hearted Nancy has taken to her bed. Nona arrives to help Jack out while Annie attends the funeral. Her first customer of the day is Jed Stone, looking for Dennis who isn't home. Frank sorts out Ida's insurance policies. Valerie breaks down. Jed calls at No.9 and, telling Linda he is a reformed character, leaves a message for Dennis. Friends and relatives arrive at No.3, awaiting the hearse. Esther agrees to look after Nancy during the funeral. Frank breaks down when he realises David is not returning. The funeral party sets off in the rain while the neighbours watch. Frank, Ken, Valerie, Annie, Harry, Concepta, Albert and Ena, among others, bury Ida. Back at the Rovers, Ena complains that her wreath wasn't at the graveside. Harry stands up for the bus driver, Jim Foster, who ran Ida over. Swindley and Emily call at No.3 and tell Frank that the Mission helpers will assist in looking after Nancy. Harry passes on a message to Frank that David is on the phone at the Rovers but, upset at his son's behaviour, he refuses to take the call. Ken goes to take it and learns that David is nearby. Jed asks Dennis to help him get a job at the Orinoco Club. The Starks return to Weatherfield when Mr Stark can't settle in Birmingham. Jean tells Christine that she's dropped Dennis's guitar and broken it. She doesn't know how to tell him. She is embarrassed when he tells her that he's put a card in the Corner Shop window advertising it for sale. Ken returns and tells Frank that David watched Ida's funeral from a distance but couldn't bring himself to join the others and is now outside, worried what his father will say. Frank goes to speak to him, thanking Ken for his support over the past few days. Cast Regular cast *Frank Barlow - Frank Pemberton *Kenneth Barlow - William Roache *Valerie Tatlock - Anne Reid *Esther Hayes - Daphne Oxenford *Christine Hardman - Christine Hargreaves *Jack Walker - Arthur Leslie *Annie Walker - Doris Speed *Concepta Riley - Doreen Keogh *Harry Hewitt - Ivan Beavis *Len Fairclough - Peter Adamson *Ena Sharples - Violet Carson *Martha Longhurst - Lynne Carol *Minnie Caldwell - Margot Bryant *Ivan Cheveski - Ernst Walder *Linda Cheveski - Anne Cunningham *Dennis Tanner - Philip Lowrie *Jed Stone - Kenneth Cope *Albert Tatlock - Jack Howarth *Florrie Lindley - Betty Alberge *Leonard Swindley - Arthur Lowe *Miss Nugent - Eileen Derbyshire Guest cast *Jean Stark - Renny Lister *Nona Willis - Barbara Ferris Places *Coronation Street *Rovers Return Inn - Public/Snug and hallway *3 Coronation Street - Back room, hallway and kitchen Notes *First appearance of Jed Stone since 24th April 1961. Kenneth Cope met his future wife Renny Lister (Jean Stark) when making this episode. *Ken Barlow tells Valerie Tatlock that Frank Barlow is in the living room, talking to Aunt Marjorie; this contradicts the information given in Daran Little's novel Coronation Street at War where Marjorie is killed in an air raid. *An echoing version of Eric Spear's theme music is played over the scene of the mourners departing for the funeral. Added over the picture is stick footage of rainfall to avoid the use of real water in the electronic studio. *David Barlow does not actually appear in the episode but Ken tells a delighted Frank that he's turned up outside No.3 and wants to speak to him as the programme ends. Alan Rothwell was working in the Associated Rediffusion series Top Secret at the time and was unable to return to Coronation Street. *Designer Denis Parkin recalled that the hearse used for the funeral in the episode had to be wheeled into the studio and then spun round on a specially greased floor to get it in position as there wasn’t room for its normal turning circle. The Coronation Street set erected in the studio for this scene (pictured above) was the first time that anything approaching a large section of the street had been attempted in the programme, but even so space precluded the Rovers, the seven houses and the corner shop all being in place. In particular, No.9 was placed immediately next to the shop, instead of No.13. It was also one of the very few occasions where the houses' downstairs windows matched the title sequence film of Archie Street, in that they had three sides to the bay instead of the two used to this day. *''TV Times: The warm, human story of a street full of ordinary people; their hopes and their dreams; their laughter and their tears ''(This generic synopsis did not appear in all regional editions) *Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 6,869,000 homes (1st place - the programme's second time it had achieved the number one position, the first being Episode 73). *This episode was included on the Granada and Windsong Video Coronation Street 1961 released on 5th November 1990. Episode 079 Episode 0079